There are antonymic pairs, denoting the names of states, actions. Examples of antonyms of this kind: rejoice - grieve, cry - laugh.

Types and examples of antonyms in Russian

Antonyms in structure are divided intoraznokorennye (morning - evening) and rooted (go in - go out). The opposite of the meaning of single root antonyms is caused by prefixes. However, it should be remembered that the addition of adverbs to adverbs and qualitative adjectives without-, not- in most cases, gives them valueweakened contrast (high - low), so the contrast of their values ​​is "muted" (low - it does not mean "low"). Proceeding from this, not all prefixal formations can be classified as antonyms, but only those that are extreme points of the lexical paradigm: strong - impotent, harmful - harmless, successful - unsuccessful.

The antonyms, as well as synonyms, are inclose connection with polysemy: empty - serious (conversation); empty - full (cup); empty - expressive (look); empty - informative (story). Examples of antonyms show that different meanings of the word "empty" enter into different antonymic pairs. Unambiguous words, as well as words with specific meanings (iamb, pencil, desk, notebook, etc.) can not have antonyms.

There is an enantiosemia among the antonyms- is the development of mutually exclusive, opposite meanings of some polysemantic words: to carry (to the room, to bring) - to carry (from the room, to carry away); abandoned (the phrase just stated) - abandoned (abandoned, forgotten). The meaning in such cases is specified in the context. Often enantiosemia is the cause of the ambiguity of certain expressions. Examples of antonyms of this kind: he listened to the report; the director looked through these lines.

Contextual antonyms: examples and definition

Contextual antonyms are words,opposing in a certain context: moonlight - sunlight; not a mother, but a daughter; one day - all life; wolves - sheep. The polarity of meanings of similar words in the language is not fixed, and their opposition is an individual author's decision. The writer in such cases reveals the opposite qualities of different concepts and contrasts them in speech. However, such pairs of words are not antonyms.